Driving

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Since I've been in France, I've noticed a lot of differences between here and the US. One of the most obvious differences is the size of cars. Cars in this area, in general, are much smaller than the ones in the US. I always thought of my Saturn as being a pretty small car, but if I had it now, it would seem pretty big. BUT there is a really good reason why cars in Europe are small! There are more people here, which means more cars and less space to drive/park the cars. The lanes here are very small compared to the US, and I'm so glad to be driving a little car. Parking spaces are tiny, especially the parallel parking, and sometimes you have to squeeze through small spaces on the road, so having a small car is GREAT!

Not only are the cars different, but the roads are different. There are no yellow lines in the middle of the road if there is two way traffic. All the lines are white, so sometimes I worry that maybe I'm going down a road that I shouldn't be. But there are a lot of convenient differences as well! At pretty much all red lights, there are arrows on the road saying which way your lane is going. And then when you cross the intersection, there are small blue signs with arrows telling you which part of the road you should be driving on. This has turned out to be such a big help at weird intersections where I'm not exactly sure where to go next. And then there are the famous roundabouts, which replace most four-way stops. I thought I would hate them, but they are so fun! If you change your mind and don't want to turn down a certain direction, just keep going around the circle until you get to the direction you want to go!

Just watch out for pedestrians, because usually they always have the right-away, unless it's at a redlight. So as I'm driving, I'm constantly trying to figure out where to go, shift the gears, watch for pedestrians, and keep around the speed limit. Oh...and in Switzerland, they have "hidden" cameras that everyone knows about that takes pictures of your car if you're speeding. SCAREY!!!

Speedlimits are different, but I'm not sure how different. In town, it's 50 kmh, unless it states otherwise (I think)...out of town it's 60, on the motor way 70-110 depending on where you are. Dont' take my word for it though...that's just what I've come to believe so far. haha

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